By Sade Gardner
Observer writer—

Selector Niko Chromatic of popular sound system Chromatic is dead.—

The disc jock succumbed to complications of kidney disease at the University Hospital of the West Indies in St Andrew on Tuesday.

His girlfriend Kimberly Mais, who is the mother of their two children, took to Instagram yesterday to explain the circumstances surrounding his death.

“This is to confirm that yes, Niko did pass away yesterday at 4:36. I can’t answer everybody, I can’t wrap my head around it yet; it’s still fresh; it’s still unreal. I’m just trying to be there for our daughter, trying to be the best mommy. He wasn’t admitted or anything. He went in for dialysis and just never made it back home. The funny thing is he was looking so much better, getting so much better…,” she said.

“Dem (doctors) always a tell him fi remove him catheter but Niko is a stubborn person. Him done tell dem seh him nah remove it, him a go wait til him surgery him just tek it out completely. They keep on telling him ‘it a get infected’, so dem claim seh that is the cause of death — (an) infected catheter,” Mais continued.

Niko Chromatic, whose given name is Nicholas Grant, was diagnosed with renal failure in 2015.

As a result of his mounting medical bills, a Gofundme campaign was launched last year to help defray the costs associated with treatment in Cuba. In November last year, a fundraising concert was held at the Triple Century Car Park in New Kingston. The concert attracted a huge turnout of supporters, including dancehall artistes Tommy Lee Sparta, Vershon, Dexta Daps, and Bugle.

DJ Niko Chromatic, along with Warren “Creep” Lee of Chromatic, began producing mixtapes in 2005 and started the sound system shortly after. Chromatic sound system is a feature at several local gigs, as well as in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean.